What is the fastest speed you've reached on a bike?

larkim

Strava explicitly says that it does not take into account elevation when calculating speed or distance, so if you assume that your time at point A and point B were accurately measured by your GPS, and you know the difference between those time readings, and then factor in the elevation change between those two points you can determine your wheel speed. But the location of point A and point B are only accurate to a couple of metres at best, so any speed reading for the time between two adjacent recorded points is unlikely to be accurate.

If you upload your ride to the FetchEveryone website (mainly for runners to be honest) the speed graphs on there can be smoothed out to give a much less spiky graph which you may find more useful.

ai_1

Team4Luke wrote:

you should all have a hard think about what your doing

Care to elaborate?

Is there a specific thing I'm doing or should I have a hard think about everything I do?

bompington

Some people are always hard of thinking.

navrig2

Try this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_relativity

gt-arrowhead

Ai_1 wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

..........And i want to set myself a target, but i dont know what to set it to. Going by the bottom right, i would say 70-75 mph, but surely that cannot be right

60 mph is a more reasonable target and you may never make it. Every mph gets exponentially harder to reach. On several occasions I've managed mid 50s (and heavier people on the same ride a mph or two more) but no more. You need gradient and distance and visibility and disproportionately more and more of all three the faster you want to go and that's very hard to find. And you need it with a following wind too so if you don't live anywhere near such a place, you probably just won't have the opportunity.

The fastest I've recorded was 87.6km/h on fairly steep straight descent earlier this year. I spun out on a 50/11 gear somewhere in the low 80s got in a tuck and gained a few more km/h before the gradient eased towards the bottom. Then I thought, "I was a bit silly there!"

In my opinion it's a VERY bad idea to set a target for max speed.
It's a recipe for pushing too hard and making poor judgement calls which could lead to an accident.
If you have a target in mind you're going to find yourself glancing at your computer when you should be watching the road and holding off on braking until the last minute because you're nearly there, etc... Bad idea

Your max speed is whatever it is.

Edit:
In light of the previous post I appear to have posted the wrong speed. On reflection my fastest recorded speed was, let's see....87.6*1.15......100.7km/h
Seriously though, there aren't many suspiciously high max speed claims in this thread. Max speed isn't really a measure of ability, it's more a measure of the terrain you're riding on, your gearing and your tendency to ignore risk. Most of the speeds given in this thread can be reached without spinning out on a compact nevermind the additional speed available with a standard or by simply tucking and freewheeling on a suitable descent.
I have friends who never get much above 50km/h on the same descents I routinely do 70km/h+. They don't like the high speed and brake a bit. Nothing wrong with that. On the other hand my brother is fearless and has done 90km/h+ on descents where I start pulling the brakes around 75km/h. I won't deny there's a bit of sibling rivalry and I've often been tempted to try and stay with him but I usually remember I don't want to die relatively quickly.

Thanks for the reply,

The hill that i want to do it on is a wide, downhill road that is often empty, and there are not any places where cars can just jump out. It is also long enough to get a decent amount of speed. I have been down there many many times, so i know the road pretty well and i think it is safe.

Obviously if there are loads of cars, or cars infront, i am not going to be silly and give it the beans.

My method of finding out my speed is not by looking at a computer, as i will be using my mobile phone (strava) for the recording. So nothing to distract me while riding. Even if i had a computer i wouldnt be looking down at it. Which is not a great idea when you are going 40-50 odd MPH.

The only reason why i want to get a high top speed is for fun. Nothing else. Im a mountain biker, who doesnt really enjoy road riding too much, but i fancy having a go at a road bike. And pretty much the only thing ive thought of doing on it is blasting down hills, because last time i did it on a mountain bike i bloody enjoyed it And the way to get further enjoyment is to go faster. Hence the road bike.

Philly8mt

39.9 mph downhill recently ... Wasn't a great road surface and spent much of the descent sitting up/squeezing the brakes!
I'm sure I'd be a bit braver if I did it again now I've sussed it

160mph in a Lamborghini on the M18 ... No I wasn't driving!

oldwelshman

Initialised wrote:

57mph, you don't need that much hill to get there.

BTW I was drafting a car and had a tailwind, if the car hadn't slowed for the bend at the bottom I may have been able to go faster.

http://www.strava.com/activities/828189 ... 1689612565

Back to GT-Arrow head's point, I hit 51.1mph down a road section of Cairngorm on a Spesh Rock Hopper on 2.2" tyres. As with my above max on a road bike, and any max speed on a smartphone GPS it may be unrealistically high. Since getting a Garmin I haven't recorded much over 50mph.

So maybe a target of 65mph is reasonable for a really long steep road.

A tailwind whilst drafting? The tailwind would have zero effect. Were you going downhill? If not you would be pedalling at a hell of a cadence.

Initialised

oldwelshman wrote:

Initialised wrote:

57mph, you don't need that much hill to get there.

BTW I was drafting a car and had a tailwind, if the car hadn't slowed for the bend at the bottom I may have been able to go faster.

http://www.strava.com/activities/828189 ... 1689612565

Back to GT-Arrow head's point, I hit 51.1mph down a road section of Cairngorm on a Spesh Rock Hopper on 2.2" tyres. As with my above max on a road bike, and any max speed on a smartphone GPS it may be unrealistically high. Since getting a Garmin I haven't recorded much over 50mph.

So maybe a target of 65mph is reasonable for a really long steep road.

A tailwind whilst drafting? The tailwind would have zero effect. Were you going downhill? If not you would be pedalling at a hell of a cadence.

You'd be surprised, I've never managed to replicate it on that hill since. I've contemplated going from higher up to get a higher entry speed, like the current KOM but the junction is a bit blind so it's not really safe.

As for cadence I've been known to spin up to 170 rpm, but at the time I wasn't recording it.

Bear in mind that this was the fourth run down the same stretch of road that day and it's a bit of road I know very well.

ai_1

oldwelshman wrote:

A tailwind whilst drafting? The tailwind would have zero effect.....

Not true

diy

53mph or there abouts on bumpy grass - well it was at that speed. I wouldn't go anywhere near that on the road bike.

Its more about the steepness of the hill than any power/ability.

andy9964

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

10mph.

As sensible figure for the road beginner to aim for, especially one's who cannot unclip their feet.

If you have an off at 50mph, you probably won't be clipped in when you come to a stop

bikes`n`guns

Bout 51mph.

Although I reckon over 60 is easy enough if I can find the right road.

larkim

I did record from my GPS an average speed of 59.9mph over a 0.1m segment of a ski run in France once. Fast enough for me, don't think I'd want to be doing that on a bike!

ai_1

larkim wrote:

I did record from my GPS an average speed of 59.9mph over a 0.1m segment of a ski run in France once. Fast enough for me, don't think I'd want to be doing that on a bike!

0.1m?
I wouldn't be relying on GPS to give accurate speed data over a distance as small as 100 millimetres!

bobmcstuff

I don't think the GPS speed measurements are particularly accurate for skiing anyway, unless you're straightlining everything, because it only samples every 1s or whatever and if you're skiing properly you will be making a lot of smooth turns, so your vector will be changing more or less constantly. Although if you're the kind of person who likes to make a fuss out of your max speed on skis then I suppose it's more likely that you would be straightlining things to try and get a higher speed

I know people who compete to get 100km/h on skis which is just dangerous on an open piste.

Strava thinks I did 151km/h on the bike last weekend - but if you look at the trace it thinks I did a near-instantaneous dog leg detour about 2-300m into a field and back to the road

Fastest I'd believe is low 80s on both skis and bike.

I don't really understand competing for max speed as it's just a measure of balls/death wish, not skill or fitness.

CiB

bobmcstuff wrote:

I don't really understand competing for max speed as it's just a measure of balls/death wish, not skill or fitness.

All biking is about being better one way or another; you might [possibly] have a better inate ability to ride up a hill, I might be able to get down it better than you due to my death wish and unfeasibly large nads. Maybe.

I clocked 50.2 on the run down the B6275 from the the A68 to the A67 at Piercebridge the other week, but have a recollection of doing an indicated 54 on the A52 past The Queen's Med once up the back end of a milk tanker a few years ago and a similar speed down the Wicklow Mtns nr Dublin at about the same sort of time. It may be a meaningless target, but it's a big adrenaline rush, so certainly worth doing.

larkim

Ai_1 wrote:

larkim wrote:

I did record from my GPS an average speed of 59.9mph over a 0.1m segment of a ski run in France once. Fast enough for me, don't think I'd want to be doing that on a bike!

0.1m?
I wouldn't be relying on GPS to give accurate speed data over a distance as small as 100 millimetres!

Oops, 0.1 of a mile!

And yes, this was in a straight line, deliberately seeing how fast I could reach.

http://app.strava.com/activities/202216 ... 4762583262 if you are in any way interested!

Pituophis

I managed 47 mph down Bacup rd towards Burnley, behind a guy with two mountain bikes on the roof who obviously knew I was there as he kept grinning at me in the mirror. It didn't really feel that fast to be honest, maybe as I knew I was "relatively safe" behind the driver.
I did 42 mph down snake pass into Glossop in the damp though (my two mates both got to 52 mph) and this scared the life out of me, and I was feathering the brakes all the way down. I did not enjoy it!

mrb123

Have a look at these nutters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO7_Fq56g2c
It really gets going about 3 minutes in.

Not sure I'd have been taking my hand off the bars to wave at that speed. Or doing it without a helmet. Or bunny hopping the central white lines!

Manc33

Probably about 37 MPH lol. Really nothing.

If I had h/disc brakes it might be different.

blackpoolkev

I stepped off my bike at the end of a sportive on Sunday and looked at my Garmin. Max speed 51.22mph, it was my first ever 50+.
The annoying thing is I don't even remember it happening.

StillGoing

46mph (not that many hills round here without blind tightening bends) but it makes me shudder to think that in my days of riding motorcycles, I wouldn't go to the end of the road at 20mph without all my protective gear on. Yet here we all are protected by nothing more than a flimsy helmet and cycle clothing that disintegrates on impact doing stupid speeds.

Peddle Up!

MrB123 wrote:

Have a look at these nutters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO7_Fq56g2c
It really gets going about 3 minutes in.

Not sure I'd have been taking my hand off the bars to wave at that speed. Or doing it without a helmet. Or bunny hopping the central white lines!

Jesus wept! Bunny hopping over some rough pavement at nearly eighty miles an hour. :shock: :shock: :shock:

ai_1

MrB123 wrote:

Have a look at these nutters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO7_Fq56g2c
It really gets going about 3 minutes in.

Not sure I'd have been taking my hand off the bars to wave at that speed. Or doing it without a helmet. Or bunny hopping the central white lines!

I doubt the lack of a helmet is likely to be of much consequence if things go badly wrong. Taking hands off the bar is pretty irrelevant too. Neither of these is the real source of risk. If the driver even breathed on the brakes those guys would crash....badly, regardless of helmets or hands on bars. They're simply idiots.

Pituophis wrote:

I managed 47 mph down Bacup rd towards Burnley, behind a guy with two mountain bikes on the roof who obviously knew I was there as he kept grinning at me in the mirror. It didn't really feel that fast to be honest, maybe as I knew I was "relatively safe" behind the driver.

I'm stumped as to why you feel you're somehow safer behind a car? Drafting is far more dangerous than having an open road ahead of you. Any change in car speed puts you in immediate danger (car brakes are a lot better than yours so if you're anywhere close and they touch the brakes you're going to hit him, even if your reactions are fantastic). Also you can't see any obstacles ahead, including bumps, potholes or roadkill. If there are any corners, your position and speed judgement will be impaired. I've occasionally drafted large vehicles at low speeds while leaving significant space between and I consider even that a little iffy. HIgh speed drafting is madness.
There's no way I'd go fast in close proximity behind a car on a public road whether I thought he knew I was there and understood the risks or not!

Pituophis

Ai_1 wrote:

MrB123 wrote:

Have a look at these nutters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO7_Fq56g2c
It really gets going about 3 minutes in.

Not sure I'd have been taking my hand off the bars to wave at that speed. Or doing it without a helmet. Or bunny hopping the central white lines!

I doubt the lack of a helmet is likely to be of much consequence if things go badly wrong. Taking hands off the bar is pretty irrelevant too. Neither of these is the real source of risk. If the driver even breathed on the brakes those guys would crash....badly, regardless of helmets or hands on bars. They're simply idiots.

Pituophis wrote:

I managed 47 mph down Bacup rd towards Burnley, behind a guy with two mountain bikes on the roof who obviously knew I was there as he kept grinning at me in the mirror. It didn't really feel that fast to be honest, maybe as I knew I was "relatively safe" behind the driver.

I'm stumped as to why you feel you're somehow safer behind a car? Drafting is far more dangerous than having an open road ahead of you. Any change in car speed puts you in immediate danger (car brakes are a lot better than yours so if you're anywhere close and they touch the brakes you're going to hit him, even if your reactions are fantastic). Also you can't see any obstacles ahead, including bumps, potholes or roadkill. If there are any corners, your position and speed judgement will be impaired. I've occasionally drafted large vehicles at low speeds while leaving significant space between and I consider even that a little iffy. HIgh speed drafting is madness.
There's no way I'd go fast in close proximity behind a car on a public road whether I thought he knew I was there and understood the risks or not!

Ok, I'll consider myself chastised.

dilatory

55 was my fastest and I was terrified haha. I don't like cornering down these fast mountain roads but was following a guy who I know is a fast rider so figured if he can I can. I could, but I don't think I would on my own. I'm a bit of a sissy. I am faster than most people I ride with up the hills and usually slower down them.

Daz555

On the MTB on some sections of single track I've nudged up towards 40. On road, low 50s is about as quick as I've gone.

detsamma

45 mph with a loaded touring bike. Would like to try the same hill without the panniers, unfortunately it's in Germany.

PerformingMonkey

52mph. Just glad there were no patches of gravel on the corner at the bottom of the descent.

sherer

when I was younger I could regularly top 50 mpg coming down Westerham Hill in Kent. Now i'm 10 years older I always have a feather brake at the top and can't top more than 47mph on a good day.

Descents and top speeds are good but you need to earn them after a long slug up a hill